The Filling Station Thrift Store will have a Grand Opening on Saturday April 6, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The Filling Station is located at 615 Highlands Rd. in Franklin, NC. Free hot dogs and balloons for the kids will be given away from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The Grand Opening will culminate with drawings for a $25 gift certificate and two $10 gift certificates. All area residents and visitors are invited to register for the free gift certificates. The drawing will also be held for the winner of the raffle for the beautifully framed "Waits River" print by Rudi Reichardt, valued at over $222. Raffle tickets for the Reichardt print are $1 each.

The Filling Station Thrift Store is a non-profit purposed to support the mission of Kids Against Hunger- Franklin to reduce hunger around the corner and around the world. Kids Against Hunger-Franklin raises money and recruits volunteers to package food to ship where it is needed.

The packaged mixture is a low cost, highly nutritious mixture of soy, rice, vegetables, vitamins and minerals that is acceptable to any people group in the world and the cost is less than 25 cents/meal. Imagine being able to feed a child for less than $100 a year.

On Nov. 3, 2012, 102 volunteers packaged 31,968 meals in just over four hours. Most of that food was distributed in Western North Carolina the following Monday. The rest went to CareNet in Franklin in the following weeks.

Through funds raised via the Filling Station Thrift Store, the goal is to have bigger, more frequent events in the near future.